


A Lullaby for the Dead

by orphan_account



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Apocalypse, End of the World, Heavy Angst, Hetalia Countries Using Human Names, M/M, Singing, Singing Used as Comfort, Spoiler Alert - Freeform, angst with light fluff, denmark sings in danish the first time and norwegian the second btw, emil is mentioned more than once because he IS the kid in copenhagen, im learning how to use ao3s tags and its hard yall :(, just a lil, light moment, one - Freeform, that tag is the fic, thats it, there one, tino and berwald are only mentioned once oops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:28:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23482441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: I realize all the shit wrong with Hetalia and the fan base but it's my hyper fixation rn and I'm kinda going crazy :/Lukas and Mathias are separated from their family when the apocalypse begins. Lukas isn't as optimistic as Mathias but he's doing his best and he finds Mathias's singing can help calm him down. Mathias is more than happy to sing for him.Also yeah this was kinda inspired but Gutters but it's fine.
Relationships: Denmark/Norway, Denmark/Norway (Hetalia)
Kudos: 6





	A Lullaby for the Dead

**Author's Note:**

> I promise this will hurt you >:3

The beginning. 

At the end of the world it’s just you and me. I don’t know where everyone else is. You said it was just us. That means Emil is gone. My little brother. The little boy you raised for so long. How are you not crying? How am I crying? I’ve seen so much. Although, you’ve probably seen even more than me. You lost Berwald. We lost Berwald and Tino. Mathias they’re gone. They’re all gone. Did you cry before I woke up? What’s wrong? Who are you nodding at? Are you about to cry? My entire face hurts. Why does my face hurt? I try to open my mouth but instead shake your head. Mathias, why can’t I speak? What happened to me? Mathias, why are you crying? I don’t like it when you cry. Please stop crying. For me.  
He speaks to me in Danish. “Lukas, thank the Gods you’re alive. I’m sorry. So sorry. I’m so sorry I couldn’t-.” He doesn’t finish his sentence but I know what he was going to say. He couldn’t help them like he has every other time they were in danger. “I wanted to, but Berwald pushed me onto the boat before I could grab his hand. He and Tino were fighting, together.” Like they always do. “Once the world goes to shit people get vicious. They get scared. One of my own people punched me in the face when I was on my way to your place.” I close my eyes and it hurts but I don’t care. What the hell happened to me? I feel the ground shift as he sits down next to me, when I put my head on his shoulder he moves closer. The pain in my neck grows. “I know you have to be in pain so don’t move so much, okay.” I let out a heavy breath through my nose. At least it doesn’t hurt to breathe. “We have to communicate somehow.” His voice is soft and low. “Can you feel your hands?” I test it out and cringe. I can but I don’t want to. “How about your feet or legs?” I begin to stretch out my legs. “Okay that’s good. I’ll ask yes or no questions.” You kind of have to. “Okay we both know that was a dumb as fuck statement and we’re ignoring it. Could you see clearly when you had your eyes open? Don’t move for yes. Move for no.” I slightly move my right foot toward him, it was hard to see but I saw fine. “You could see well but not amazingly?” I don’t move. “Does your body hurt from the hips up?” No. “Waist up?” No. “Chest up?” Yeah, around there is where the pain starts. “Okay that’s about right. Do you want to know what happened?” I don’t move and he sighs.  
“Some people are saying it’s the end of the world, but Fenrir has yet to show himself.” Fenrir, the wolf said to swallow the sun and moon. He was to be slain by Thor. I hope he stays away for a little longer. “I’m sure you saw the sky and the acid rain.” Of course I did. “I know you got knocked out pretty early,” I got knocked out? “At least, that’s what Tino said. He said someone must have hit you in the back of the head because you went down, and you went down fast. But I think you must have gotten hit in the back of the neck with the way your upper back and head hurt at the same time. Probably by the butt of a gun or something similar, I hate to say it but,” He pauses. Spit it out Mathias. “I think you could have been shot but I’m not sure.” Great. I really wanted a bullet to the head. “I don’t want to remove the bandages just in case.” Because I’d still be bleeding I figure. I don’t know how much time has pasted but I’m assuming it hasn’t been that long. I feel myself getting tired. How are you tired after passing out? “I’m sure you want to know what happened to Emil.” I do but I don’t. I just want my little brother back. I want him to be right here with us, Mathias. “He was with us on our way here but at one point he turned around. He stopped running and just, turned around as if he was being controlled. It was freaky.” Emil. What happened to you? “Tino grabbed him but he slapped his hand away and then acted like he had been burnt. Like Tino was on fire or something.” I take a deep breath in before I open my mouth.  
“Mathias.” My voice is so small I’m almost sure he couldn’t have heard me but then.  
“Lukas.” He whispers. He shifts and then remembers my head is on his shoulder when I shudder at the flash of pain that shoots through my body.  
“Thank you.” I’m sure my vocal cords have been rubbed raw but I manage to get out the words I haven’t said in hundreds of years.  
“For what?” He asks, sounding stunned. I can feel my conscious slipping more and more just by the sound of his voice.  
“Sing for me won’t you, Dane?” My voice as minuscule as it gets without me being inaudible.  
“Of course.” He clears his throat before he begins and it sounds like he’s about to cry. But eventually he begins.  
“Ingerid Sletten av Sillejord  
hadde hverken sølv eller gull,  
men en liten hue av farget ull  
som hun hadde fått utav mor.  
En liten hue av farget ull,  
hadde hverken stas eller for,  
men fattig minne om far og mor,  
som skinte langt mer enn gull.” The familiar melody and his quiet voice sends me to sleep and I dream of our Viking days. The two of us. Alone. Together. Like now.

And the end.

We’ve agreed to go look for Emil. Recent “news” reports, more like rumors from the only government we have right now, have stated that there’s a silver haired boy around 18 years old stealing from the only inhabitable village in what used to be Copenhagen. There’s really nothing else about him but the people who have seen him said he speaks a language they can’t understand very well and what they can understand doesn’t make any sense. Apparently he isn’t trying to communicate but when people talk to him, he responds. Mathias has already insisted on holding my hand and carrying both of our weaponry. Against my will I agreed. I know he won’t let it go if I don’t let him. But my shoulders hurt and I’m still gaining my voice back, even after 2 and a half months, so I guess he’s just trying to help me out. My neck hurts on occasion but I manage to deal with it. Mathias has insisted he’s fine but time to time I see him stretch and flinch when his back pops. I don’t know what could be wrong but I try not to let it bother me. If there’s a problem I’ll help him when he asks. But on the other side of the coin, he’s been hovering over me ever since we got on dry land. Every now and then it’s nice to be fawned over but in the middle of the apocalypse doesn’t seem like the right time. I’ve tried telling him this but he always says, “Now isn’t the right time for an apocalypse either.”  
The majority of our conversations are in Danish and Norwegian respectively and nobody else seems to mind. I guess people are too busy trying to stay alive more than they are focused on what nationality of people are in their country. Which is good but I haven’t seen Ludwig before we left Berlin and Mathias said he hadn’t seen Gilbert since before all this started. I have a fear country borders are dissolving. I don’t know what that means for us but I’m worried nonetheless. Mathias isn’t that worried, that much is true.  
“Lukas! Lukas!” He’s yelling for me but I just pretend I can’t hear him because this is my favorite part. He runs up behind me and grabs my waist, pulling me up into his arms bridal style. I don’t resist. My eyes meet his and I feel the sides of my mouth gently pull into a smile. “Hej.” His eyes squint as he smiles and his eyebrows follow suit. Gods how I adore this face. His freckles remind me of the galaxies above and his eyes are so blue and wild they remind me of a windy day. His nose has a bump in it from former breaks that never healed properly. His face is squarer than mine but his jawline is soft and gets more defined as he smiles. His smile. Gods that smile. There isn’t a single day I regret spending my life with him.  
“Hallo, Mathias.” I don’t think his smile could get any wider but it does. I swear he could piss himself just at the sound of my voice. Although I never told him this because I know he would disagree no matter how much he cares about me.  
“Back on track?” He asks putting me down. He puts his hand in mine before I can answer.  
“Yes. Back to Copenhagen.” I more firmly lace our fingers together and allow him to set the pace for our walk.  
-  
It’s the middle of the night and I still can’t fall asleep. I’ve been awake for a long time. Mathias and I agreed to sleep in shifts but after we got to Denmark the amount of people we’ve been seeing as been, minuscule at best. Mathias is also a really light sleeper and we’ve been sleeping in patches of leaves from dead trees. It’s not too comfortable but we share a comforter and that’s all we really need to stay warm. Sensing something off I open my eyes to see a frightening image. Something, or someone it seems more like, is staring straight at me and Mathias. Once my vision focuses and I begin to raise my head, it bolts. I’m confused out of my mind, wondering why it didn’t kill me and Mathias or take our stuff. But suddenly, the thought of that thing being Emil is stuck in my head. That could be my little brother. My brother, “Emil.” I stand up slowly and fold my part of the comforter over on Mathias so he doesn’t miss my body heat and get cold. I don’t want to wake him so I make sure to step around him on my way into the woods after what I saw. I grab the flashlight we’ve been sharing and quickly jog after the figure. Hoping to all the Gods it just might be Emil. I would even take a possessed or psychopathic brother over what could be a dead brother. I want Emil back. I want Emil back.  
“Emil!” I don’t give a shit if this thing isn’t Emil. I’ve been running around the woods for twenty minutes looking for any trace of, life. As I slow down it hits me that I don’t know where I am. Or where Mathias is. Shit, I left him alone. I should have checked the moss on the trees before I ran off. Before I give up I yell once more. “Emil! It’s Lukas. Your older brother. Mathias and I are looking for you.” I turn off the flashlight. “I don’t know what happened to you or what could be happening to you but I miss you. Mathias misses you. We came looking for you because we missed you so badly. I just want-.” And I fall down. Down. Down. Down. Until I hit a solid surface that knocks the breath out of me.

“Lukas! Lukas please answer me!” Mathias begins pleading with forces that cannot hear him. “I don’t know why you ran off but I need you to come back!” He takes a break from running to catch his breath. At this time he starts to look at the forest floor. There are so clearly foot prints. Mathias begins to follow them. The prints look similar to the ones he’s been making so the possibility they’re from Lukas’s boots is very high. As the trees get sparser the foot prints get closer together. Why was he running? Was he running from something? Someone? “Lukas?!” He calls out once more and he finally gets a response. A bush in a thicket moves and Mathias begins to walk towards it. “Lukas?” He asks to the shaking leaves. There’s a beat and then a rock is tossed directly into his kneecap. It’s not a big rock so it doesn’t hurt but it gets his attention. Someone is throwing rocks at him. “Lukas!” One last time. This time Mathias looks for the direction the rocks come from. Two rocks exit the thicket and hit his right foot. Mathias parts the ticket and walks towards the direction the rocks have been coming from. “Please keep throwing rocks.” Mathias directs. After a couple of seconds another rock get tossed his way. “Lukas!” Mathias full on charges through the thicket and almost makes the same mistake Lukas did, not looking where he’s going. He stops where the slope begins and looks down to see the blonde haired male. “Lukas.” Mathias’s voice wavers.  
“Don’t you dare come down here, Dane.” The words are so small Mathias can barely just hear him. But he hasn’t listened to Lukas in a long time and he’s not about to start. As slowly and as carefully as he can, he descends down the hill. Halfway down the hill the muddy surface turns into lose soil and rocks. He slips once but manages to get down the hill to Lukas. “You’re so stupid.” Lukas mutters looking up to meet Mathias’s eyes. “What did I tell to do?” Mathias drops to his knees.  
“Lukas, oh my Gods.” Mathias whispers looking over Lukas’s body. There’s not much evidence of a hard collision but Lukas’s legs are crossed and his hands remain in his lap. “Are you okay?” Lukas sighs and shakes his head, allowing his chin to touch his chest.  
“I hate to say this to you but probably not. I think I re-injured myself and more.” Lukas watches as Mathias’s face goes from worry to fear. “I’m pretty sure I broke my lower spine and a rib or two that caused me to puncture my lung. I have a feeling I’m not going to be alive for much longer.” He meets Mathias’s eyes at the end of his analysis to find Mathias has start crying. Of course he’s started crying. “Why are crying?” Lukas asks, his voice never seems to shift out of monotone.  
“I’m crying because I don’t want you to die, Nor. What am I going to do without you? You’ve been with me since the very beginning. Do you remember all the shit we went through together?” Lukas nods. Of course he does. He would never forget. Mathias gets on his knees so he’s eye level and closer to Lukas. “Lukas, I never regret a single moment with you. I was so excited to spend the rest of my life with you, before, all this happened.” At this point the tears on Mathias’s face are apparent and his eyes are red. He takes a breath to calm himself before he resumes talking. “I’m sorry we couldn’t find Emil together. I’m sorry you got hurt and I wasn’t there for you. I’m sorry I couldn’t have be there for you every single day of my life. You mean the world to me. You are the world to me.” He chokes back a sob as the light in Lukas’s eye begin to fade. “And I love you so much. More than you could ever imagine.” Lukas smiles as he places his hand on Mathias’s cheek.  
“I love you too Mathias, as much as you love me. I promise.” Lukas’s voice is fading by the second and he just manages to get out a final request, anything to hear his boyfriend’s voice before he dies. “Sing for me won’t you, Dane?” Mathias wipes away his tears and takes a deep breath before he begins. There’s more pressing matter on his mind though.  
“Can I, can I kiss you first?” Mathias asks softly. Lukas nods and closes his eyes as Mathias leans in. Mathias hasn’t ever kissed Lukas before asking. When their lips connect Lukas smiles. Mathias’s lips are chapped and he smells like raspberries. Lukas’s lips are soft and cold. After a couple seconds Mathias pulls back and begins to sing.  
“Nå i ro slumre inn,  
lille hjertevenn' min.  
Når du legger deg ned,  
vil til drømmenes sted  
dine tanker fly hen  
til du vekkes igjen,  
dine tanker fly hen,  
til du vekkes igjen.

Visst en engel du ser,  
når i drømme du ler,  
som i lysende prakt  
ved din seng står på vakt,  
og med kyss på din munn  
vugger ømt deg i blund.  
og med kyss på din munn  
vugger ømt deg i blund.” The entire forest is quiet as Mathias ends the song. He’s started crying again. This time he cries like he never has before. Slowly and carefully he pulls Lukas’s body into his lap and touches their foreheads together.  
“I’m going to miss you, gammel venn.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for hurting you :(


End file.
